GW($$) v Cardozo ($$$) Forum

[monkey85]

I think I'm going to accept the $25,000 scholarship from GW tomorrow. Any objections?

No, go for it!

And just to clarify:

Mi-chan in the GW accepted thread said that top 20% of the class got Biglaw SA's.

It is not that THE top 20% get SAs, but rather 20% of the entire class get Biglaw SAs. This happens because there are some students with amazing grades, but are horrible at interviewing - hence, even some really smart people fail at OCI.

[cts2012]

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[Wily]

Haha, I feel famous now that my cycle has been described as a "sign of desperation" for law schools by Prof. Campos.

I think I'm going to accept the $25,000 scholarship from GW tomorrow. Any objections?

I've been following your thread about GW, trying to decide between GW and Emory myself. Did anything sell you specifically on GW - you seemed fairly skeptical at times? Or do you just prefer GW to Cardozo?

I think the job placement numbers (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub ... Bd3c&gid=6) and my conversations with several GW grads (one in biglaw, one in health law) have sold me on GW over Cardozo. I'm not very happy with the employment statistics from Cardozo. GW isn't exactly going to guarantee Biglaw after law school, but it does offer a shot for the top 20% to 25%, which Cardozo can't say. Plus, its high placement in government and clerkships compared to Cardozo were attractive to me.

Emory is a better school than Cardozo, though, so it might be a different situation for you.

[cts2012]

Haha, I feel famous now that my cycle has been described as a "sign of desperation" for law schools by Prof. Campos.

I think I'm going to accept the $25,000 scholarship from GW tomorrow. Any objections?

I've been following your thread about GW, trying to decide between GW and Emory myself. Did anything sell you specifically on GW - you seemed fairly skeptical at times? Or do you just prefer GW to Cardozo?

I think the job placement numbers (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub ... Bd3c&gid=6) and my conversations with several GW grads (one in biglaw, one in health law) have sold me on GW over Cardozo. I'm not very happy with the employment statistics from Cardozo. GW isn't exactly going to guarantee Biglaw after law school, but it does offer a shot for the top 20% to 25%, which Cardozo can't say. Plus, its high placement in government and clerkships compared to Cardozo were attractive to me.

Emory is a better school than Cardozo, though, so it might be a different situation for you.

How desirable are the government jobs GW grads take? Do students take those because they don't get PI, biglaw or a clerkship, or do they take government because that's what they would prefer? Were you able to find that out?

[Wily]

How desirable are the government jobs GW grads take? Do students take those because they don't get PI, biglaw or a clerkship, or do they take government because that's what they would prefer? Were you able to find that out?

Hey CTS - re: government jobs, this is from mi-chan17 on the GW thread:

"Government positions" are really a very wide range. We get a few people into federal jobs via the various departments' honors programs - I know folks headed into DOJ, IRS, and CIA. That's not the bulk of that group, but it's not negligible either. GW sends a very large number of people into federal government through PMF - I think this year we sent 14 or so finalists. GW also puts people into state jobs, there are people headed off to DA/PD jobs as well as into state AG offices and state agencies. I don't know the sheer numbers on those, though.

The number also includes people who end up in government doing non-law stuff. Some of the PMF folks may end up falling into that camp, but people also go into some of the agencies to do reg-writing or contract management which are often JD preferred jobs.

[Wily]

Update: Washington University in St. Louis just took me off their waitlist, and offered me $60,000. This doesn't change anything if I don't want to work in the Midwest, right?

Any chance I can negotiate using their scholarship with GW?

[Paul Campos]

Update: Washington University in St. Louis just took me off their waitlist, and offered me $60,000. This doesn't change anything if I don't want to work in the Midwest, right?

Any chance I can negotiate using their scholarship with GW?

If you prefer East Coast to the Midwest then no, WUSTL at that price isn't an option. There's no harm in trying to use it as leverage with GW however.

[CanadianWolf]

Ask both GWU & WashUStL to increase their scholarship offers; basically, use one against the other.

Next admissions cycle is expected to see a further downturn in the number of law school applications which suggests that if you are willing to work for another year if unsatisfied with your current options financially or otherwise, then your options should be better next cycle.

[gravityrides0]

Bump with update: GW is now offering me $25,000 in merit scholarships, and Cardozo now offering me $42,000 in merit/fin aid. I withdrew from W&M. I just visited Cardozo and really liked it, but I'm leaning toward GW now...

Choose GW. Also, when/how did you get your merit scholly? I want one

[Wily]

Bump with update: GW is now offering me $25,000 in merit scholarships, and Cardozo now offering me $42,000 in merit/fin aid. I withdrew from W&M. I just visited Cardozo and really liked it, but I'm leaning toward GW now...

Choose GW. Also, when/how did you get your merit scholly? I want one

Got accepted off the WL on 4/26. Then sent in my then-scholarship offer of $30k from Cardozo. Then received my $25k scholarship from GW 5/1. Tried negotiating it further with my $42k offer from Cardozo, but that hasn't worked so far.

[gravityrides0]

Bump with update: GW is now offering me $25,000 in merit scholarships, and Cardozo now offering me $42,000 in merit/fin aid. I withdrew from W&M. I just visited Cardozo and really liked it, but I'm leaning toward GW now...

Choose GW. Also, when/how did you get your merit scholly? I want one

Got accepted off the WL on 4/26. Then sent in my then-scholarship offer of $30k from Cardozo. Then received my $25k scholarship from GW 5/1. Tried negotiating it further with my $42k offer from Cardozo, but that hasn't worked so far.

dang. I should have applied to more schools in the 20s/30s for scholarship leverage. you live, you learn. congrats on the $$!

[Wily]

Bump with update: GW is now offering me $25,000 in merit scholarships, and Cardozo now offering me $42,000 in merit/fin aid. I withdrew from W&M. I just visited Cardozo and really liked it, but I'm leaning toward GW now...

Choose GW. Also, when/how did you get your merit scholly? I want one

Got accepted off the WL on 4/26. Then sent in my then-scholarship offer of $30k from Cardozo. Then received my $25k scholarship from GW 5/1. Tried negotiating it further with my $42k offer from Cardozo, but that hasn't worked so far.

dang. I should have applied to more schools in the 20s/30s for scholarship leverage. you live, you learn. congrats on the $$!

Yea, now that I got into WUSTL with $20k, I'm trying to raise their offer using GW's offer, and then go back to GW to raise their offer, etc. Rinse and repeat.

BTW when Cardozo accepted me three weeks ago their initial offer was $8k. I got that moved to $24k using full rides from Hofstra/St. John's. I then got it raised to $30k after asking for financial aid. When I got into GW, I used that acceptance to raise Cardozo's offer to $42k. I think they're going to kill me when I tell them I'm withdrawing

Glad my poker skills from a previous life as a degenerate gambler have helped me, hehe.

[Nova]

That makes it a pretty close call. Both are a pretty big gamble at those respective COAs. It's notable that GW went from offering you nothing to offering you $75K at the end of the cycle.

No shit.

I'd rather roll the dice on GW than 'Bozo

So assuming COL is the same at both schools, it's costing me $51k more to 'roll the dice' at GW than at Cardozo. Worth it for ~30% v ~15% chance of Biglaw?

That judgment call is up to you.

I would take GW. The 50k is def worth it if you really want Biglaw.

Edit: I didn't see there were more pages to the thread. Good choice!